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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22989217">Somewhere That's Green</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_For_One_Please/pseuds/Tea_For_One_Please'>Tea_For_One_Please</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Boys Kissing, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Making Out, Minor Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts, One Shot, Post-Canon, Theatre</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:08:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22989217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_For_One_Please/pseuds/Tea_For_One_Please</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seb and Carlos' plan to go on a date to see Little Shop of Horrors ends up going slightly awry, but they make the best of it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minor or Background Relationship(s), Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Somewhere That's Green</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The library door opens, and Seb’s head appears around the door, scouring the desks in the centre of the room. His eyes fall on a familiar head of gelled dark hair, bent low as Carlos pores over a textbook, and Seb’s eyes light up as he slips into the room and approaches the desk. Biting his lip to stay quiet, Seb sidles up to Carlos and leans down so that his mouth is next to Carlos’ ear and whispers, “Feed me, Seymour..!”</p><p>“Jesus!” Carlos jumps with a gasp, his knee jerking up and slamming against the underside of the desk. He winces with pain as Seb collapses into the adjacent chair, hand clamped over his mouth to contain his laughter. The elderly librarian glares over at them, and he grimaces in apology. “What the hell, Seb?” he hisses, punching him on the arm.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Seb whispers, his shoulders still shaking with amusement. “I’m just excited for tonight!”</p><p>“I am too,” Carlos says, a ghost of a smirk passing across his face. “But <em>I’m</em> not going around terrorising innocent people.”</p><p>“Hey, this was your idea,” Seb says defensively, earning another stern look from the librarian. “Can we go somewhere else so we can actually talk?” Carlos appears to momentarily dither between this and continuing his World History homework, before shrugging and closing the textbook.</p><p>“So,” Carlos says once they’re out of earshot, “the showing’s at six-thirty, so I think we should get there by five-forty-five so we can find our seats.”</p><p>“Forty-five minutes early?” Seb’s voice is incredulous. “Carlos, that’s insane. A half-hour is plenty of time.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” Carlos asks doubtfully.</p><p>“It’s not like seeing a movie,” Seb says, shifting his backpack onto his other shoulder and looking fondly at him. “We already booked our seats. They’re printed on the tickets.”</p><p>“Okay, okay,” Carlos concedes. “We’ll get there for six. Let’s live dangerously.” Seb laughs at that.</p><p>“I still can’t believe we’re going,” he says, his pitch rising with excitement. “I haven’t seen <em>Little Shop of Horrors </em>onstage in years!”</p><p>“Me neither! I saw the movie, though – well, most of it – and <em>God</em>, it was weird.”</p><p>“Wait,” Seb says, holding out an arm to stop Carlos in his tracks and turning to face him. “You didn’t see the whole thing?”</p><p>“No, I got interrupted and never saw, like, the last twenty minutes.”</p><p>“But you know how it ends, right?”</p><p>Carlos shakes his head and Seb’s eyes widen. “Why?” Carlos asks, his voice low with apprehension. “What happens?”</p><p>“I’m not going to tell you,” Seb says delicately. “Let it be a surprise for tonight.”</p><p>“Ooh, what’s the surprise?” A voice startles them both, and they turn to see Ricky bouncing up to them.</p><p>“Oh, we’re going to see <em>Little Shop of Horrors</em> tonight,” Seb says, indicating to himself and Carlos.</p><p>“Huh,” Ricky says, surprised. “Did Nini already tell you?” Seb and Carlos share a bemused glance.</p><p>“Tell us what?” Carlos asks, perplexed.</p><p>“Her moms got us a group deal of tickets for tonight’s showing,” Ricky says slowly.</p><p>“When you say ‘us’..?” Seb asks with a sinking heart, fairly certain he knows the answer.</p><p>“You know, the gang. You didn’t know about this?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s awkward,” Seb breathes. “How to make it not awkward…”</p><p>“No, we didn’t,” Carlos says, nudging Seb as Ricky gives him a funny look. “We were planning to go by ourselves.” Seb sees the immediate regret in his face as Ricky looks slightly affronted.</p><p>“So you don’t want to go with us?” he asks.</p><p>“It’s not that,” Seb puts in hastily. “We were just, you know…” Ricky looks blank, and Seb sighs. “It was going to be a date.”</p><p>“Oh,” Ricky says, comprehension dawning. “I get it. Well, you don’t have to come with us. We can give your tickets to someone else.”</p><p>“No, we’ll come,” Carlos says.</p><p>“We will?” Seb says timidly, but either Carlos doesn’t hear, or doesn’t listen.</p><p>“I’m assuming all your tickets are together?”</p><p>Ricky nods. “A row of four and a row of five.”</p><p>“Count us in,” Carlos says. Ricky beams, high-fives them and jogs away. Seb hesitates before speaking again.</p><p>“I feel like that was something we should have discussed,” he says dubiously.</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“Well, this was supposed to be our date night,” Seb adds, “and now we have to spend it with the others.”</p><p>“Seb, I’m sorry I spoke for you,” Carlos says earnestly, “but I figured one way or another everyone’s going to be there tonight, right?” Seb shrugs. “Surely it’s better to go as a group and postpone the ‘date’ aspect of it, than to go separately, see them anyway, and make it uncomfortable?”</p><p>“I guess so,” says Seb doubtfully. “Still think we should have talked about it though.”</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right,” Carlos admits. “Sorry.”</p><p>“’S’okay,” Seb says, linking their pinkie fingers and squeezing. Suddenly his phone buzzes in his pocket; he frowns and pulls it out.</p><p>“Who is it?”</p><p>“Nini, in the group chat,” he says.</p><p>“You don’t have that muted?”</p><p>“I should,” Seb admits. “Uh, she says to meet at – ” he scowls, “ – five-forty-five outside the theatre so she can give us our tickets.” Carlos smirks, and Seb shoves him, making him stumble against a trash can with a cry of protest.</p><p> </p><p>At the end of the lunch hour, they agree to meet at the end of the day, so they can have a bit of time at Seb’s house before regrouping with the others, then go their separate ways for their afternoon classes. An hour of chemistry and another hour of Spanish drains Seb of his will to live, as he professes dramatically to Gina on the way out at the end of the day. It’s therefore some relief when he’s finally reconvened with Carlos, and is cycling slowly through the streets of Salt Lake City, on his way to his family’s little farm on the edge of the city, as Carlos walks beside him.</p><p>Honestly, he’s a little apprehensive about this evening. The biggest difficulty that he and Carlos have had since starting their relationship has been making the others realise that they actually want to spend time alone together. Some of them get it, but others – particularly the boys – seem to think that if Seb and Carlos want to be together, it’s an open invitation for them to all hang out together. And frankly, it drives Seb insane, and he knows Carlos feels the same, especially since they don’t make the same assumptions about Nini and Ricky, or Ashlyn and Big Red.</p><p>Seb fumes as he thinks about the most recent example of this. Last week, Carlos accidentally let slip that he and Seb were planning to camp out in Seb’s barn at the weekend. Ricky, bless his innocent heart, asked if the girls were going, to which Carlos, suspecting nothing, answered that they were not. Imagine their surprise and profound embarrassment, therefore, when Ricky, Big Red and EJ walked in on them making out, apparently under the misguided assumption that Seb was hosting a ‘boys’ night’. Funnily enough, they didn’t stay very long, and he and Carlos struggled to get back into the right headspace to enjoy themselves.</p><p>Now, their plans for a date have unravelled yet again, by pure unhappy coincidence. And while he knows he’ll still enjoy the evening, and the show, he knows that he’ll spend the entire evening wishing that seven of the assembled company weren’t there, which is a feeling he doesn’t much like.</p><p> </p><p>As they pass through the gate, he rings his bell a couple of times to let his mother know that they’ve arrived, then he pedals slowly around the house to lock up his bike, before clattering through the back door. The scent of freshly baking bread hits him like a tidal wave, and he breathes it in contentedly.</p><p>“Shoes,” his mom says automatically, as if she hasn’t said the same thing to him every day since he started school. Seb rolls his eyes, and Carlos obediently unties his shoes and slips them off. “How was your day?”</p><p>“Boring,” he sighs. “I miss play rehearsals.”</p><p>“I bet,” she says sympathetically, crossing the kitchen and kissing him on the cheek. He smiles at the familiarity – it’s only in the last couple of years that he’s grown tall enough that she can no longer kiss him on the top of his head when he arrives home from school. She doesn’t do the same to Carlos, but does offer him an approving nod.</p><p>“Nice to see you again, Mrs Matthew-Smith,” Carlos says in the uncharacteristically small voice he reserves for Seb’s parents.</p><p>“You too, honey,” she smiles, turning her attention back to Seb. “You’ll be looking forward to tonight, I suppose?”</p><p>“Ugh, I can’t wait,” Seb says happily, dropping his backpack on the kitchen table.</p><p>“You have him back by midnight,” she warns Carlos, and they both grimace.</p><p>“It’s not a date anymore,” he says gloomily, and she stares at him in disbelief, before brandishing her spatula in Carlos’ direction.</p><p>“What did you do to him?” she demands, throwing her dish-towel on the table, prompting a squeak of alarm from Carlos. “Do I have to – ”</p><p>“Oh, it’s not like that,” Seb says hurriedly. “We’re good.”</p><p>“Then what?”</p><p>“Basically it turns out all our friends are going as well.”</p><p>“Gotta love a coincidence,” Carlos adds in an attempt at diffusing the tension. She hums in acknowledgement.</p><p>“Not sure <em>Little Shop of Horrors</em> is the most romantic show in the world anyway.”</p><p>“How would you know? You’ve never seen it.”</p><p>“I can tell by the title, dear,” she says with a chuckle. “I don’t need to have seen it.”</p><p>“Well, I have two unneeded tickets now,” Seb says drily. “Why not come along?” To his surprise, she seems to consider it.</p><p>“No,” she says, shaking her head quickly, as if she’s as surprised as he is. “Plenty to do here, and we’ll never find someone to watch your brothers and sisters at such short notice.”</p><p>“What do I do with these then?” Seb asks.</p><p>“Give ‘em back to the box office,” his mom suggests. “They’ll refund you, and sell ‘em cheaply.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Probably.”</p><p>“Oh, well, that’s reassuring,” he mutters sarcastically, but she’s opening the oven and doesn’t hear him. He sits down at the piano and idly presses the first few notes of the chorus of <em>Suddenly Seymour</em>, before the back door crashes open again and all four of his siblings stumble through.</p><p>“Shoes,” they chorus before their mother can, and Seb grins at their sass. He’s trained them well.</p><p>“Sebby!” cries Caleb, the youngest, running over and hugging him. Seb chuckles as he stoops down to hug him back, kisses his forehead and ruffles his hair.</p><p>“Hey, buddy,” he says fondly. “How was school?”</p><p>“We made candles!” he says excitedly.</p><p>“Real ones?” Carlos says in disbelief, and Seb can tell he’s considering the alarming implications of giving hot wax to an enthusiastic four-year-old.</p><p>“No, not real ones, silly!” Laughing, Caleb looks at him like he’s an idiot, and pulls his ‘candle’ from his bag and plops it down on the table. Once he’s released it, Seb and Carlos can clearly see that it’s made from a cardboard toilet paper tube and red-and-yellow sugar paper.</p><p>“Well, I think it’s awesome,” Seb says firmly. “Where are you going to keep it?”</p><p>“You can start by taking it off my table,” their mother says briskly. “If you leave glue stains you’ll be mucking out the sheep for a week.” Seb winces and hastily hands the crude cardboard candle back to his little brother. He’ll never admit it to them, and he does his best not to show it, but Caleb’s secretly his favourite of his siblings.</p><p>Carlos knows, though. There are lots of things that Seb’s told Carlos that nobody else knows about, and vice versa: when they officially started dating, they found themselves talking as they never talked to anyone before, including each other. It started as little secrets which they shared with each other – little fears, pet peeves, that sort of thing. Putting such things out into the open, Seb feels, has established an atmosphere of trust, and they’ve been honest with each other ever since.</p><p>Seb, for example, knows that Carlos struggles to assert himself within a group, and therefore now understands how much he was emotionally drained from choreographing <em>High School Musical</em>. He’s also had some insight into the difficulties of Carlos’ home life, including the fact that he lives in an atmosphere of near-constant casual homophobia, and that even though people at school know he and Seb are dating, Seb is the only person whom Carlos has actually told that he’s gay.</p><p>For his part, Seb’s told Carlos how he often feels overlooked by people: as much as he loves his siblings, they spend a lot more time with their parents than he does, as they have far more interest in the farm. As an extension of that, he’s told Carlos that although he knows his parents love him, it wasn’t until they showed up <em>en masse</em> to support him in <em>High School Musical</em> that he fully believed they loved him as much as the others.</p><p> </p><p>Now, though, Seb watches contentedly as Caleb proudly shows Carlos his candle, before releasing him to go over to chat with Tina, Patrick and Heather. He likes that Carlos likes his family, and feels comfortable around them – even if he still calls his parents ‘Mr and Mrs Matthew-Smith’. He really should tell him that they’re fine with him calling them Chris and Emma, but honestly, he finds it endearing. Caleb comes back to Seb, chattering about something that happened at school, but their mother starts speaking at the same time. He crosses his legs and pulls Caleb gently onto his lap as he tunes into his mom’s voice.</p><p>“…your dad says he’s happy to drive you to the theatre, if you want?”</p><p>“Uh,” Seb stalls, processing the question and catching Carlos’ eye. He shrugs one shoulder, so Seb makes the call. “Thanks, but I think we’re gonna walk down.”</p><p>“Fine,” she says, nodding. “It’s good for you.”</p><p>“Yeah, because we don’t get enough exercise,” Seb says sarcastically.</p><p>“Not since finishing the show, you don’t,” she says, her voice abrupt and her face stern.</p><p>“Sebby’s getting fat,” Heather says loudly from the other side of the kitchen. Seb waits for their mother to turn around and rebuke her, then sticks up his middle finger at her, out of Caleb’s view. If Caleb is his favourite, then he would have to say Heather is his least favourite. Being the closest in age, with two years between them, they spent a lot of their childhood in the same school, and Seb feels they spent rather too much time in close proximity, because these, days, they bicker like geese. He’s rather dreading next year, when she’ll be starting at East High; he’s thankful, though, that she has no interest in drama.</p><p>“We’ll leave at about five,” Seb says, hastily lowering his obscene gesture as his mother turns back around to face him.</p><p>“Best you go and start your homework then.” Seb concedes, and Caleb climbs off him as he stands up. “Leave the door open!” she calls after them.</p><p>“Will do!” Seb shouts back. They jog up the stairs to his bedroom, and Seb promptly closes and locks the door. Carlos raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Yeah, like we were going to leave it open,” Seb says with a dry laugh.</p><p> </p><p>With no more family-related distractions, Seb wastes no more time and crosses the room to Carlos, taking his hands in his own and kissing him. Not breaking apart, they feel their way to the bed and sink down onto it. It’s only then that they pull apart, and exhale deeply in unison.</p><p>“God, I’ve missed this,” Carlos murmurs, prompting Seb to shush him. Carlos nods in understanding – the door might be closed, but the room isn’t soundproofed. With a grin, Carlos helps Seb pull off his jacket, before pushing him down onto the bed and leaning down over him. Carlos feels something on his face, and immediately Seb gives a stutter of surprise.</p><p>Confused, Carlos opens his eyes and sees Seb, laughing quietly and lifting Carlos’ glasses off the pillow, having just fallen off his face and hit Seb. Carlos lets out a breath of laughter, and mutters an apology before tossing them aside and bearing down for another kiss. Seb lets out a barely-audible sigh, and Carlos becomes very aware that he’s practically grinding down on Seb. Flustered, he pulls away a little, but Seb apparently thinks he’s teasing him, and leans up to keep their lips pressed together, propping himself up on his elbows. “Seb,” Carlos says, breaking away with a nervous laugh.</p><p>“What?” His voice is soft, and his face concerned. Carlos looks embarrassed, so Seb sits up and strokes his cheek. “We can stop, if you want,” he says gently. “It’s okay.”</p><p>“No,” Carlos says hastily, offering him an apprehensive smile. “I don’t want to stop.” Relieved, Seb kisses him again, but swiftly, pulling away again, as if testing the waters, and Carlos responds in earnest. They fall back into their rhythm; then, without discussing it, as though it were instinctive, they both start fumbling at the buttons of Seb’s flannel shirt. Seb tugs it off, and Carlos appraises his shirtless upper body, a tense heat building low down in his belly. Seb’s always been strong and slightly stocky, but his upper arms in particular look thicker than he remembers, and Carlos swallows hard, his mouth dry.</p><p>“Okay?” Seb says apprehensively, suddenly self-conscious. He doesn’t know why he feels weird – he and Carlos share a gym class, after all – but this feels different. The sensation passes quickly though, and Carlos hastily nods.</p><p>“Yeah,” says Carlos numbly, his voice thick, before placing his hands on his waist and planting his lips on Seb’s again. “More than okay,” he mumbles between kisses, and Seb smiles against his lips. “And you’re not getting fat,” he adds at their next pause.</p><p>“What?” Seb says, pulling away and looking at him oddly. Carlos curses himself, immediately regretting bringing it up.</p><p>“I – you – what your sister said – ” he stutters, and Seb rolls his eyes, placated.</p><p>“Oh, no one listens to her,” he says dismissively. “And of all the inappropriate times to bring up my sister,” he adds teasingly. Carlos blushes furiously and stammers an apology. “It’s okay, I’m kidding,” Seb laughs, closing his eyes and closing the distance between them again. He feels around for the hem of Carlos’ t-shirt, and breaks the kiss off again, eyeing Carlos for the go-ahead. He looks a little anxious, but nods encouragingly, lifting up his arms as Seb pulls it off and tosses it aside. This done, they fall back down onto the bed again, and Seb feels a shiver run down his spine as Carlos’ stomach brushes against his own. As his hands move from Carlos’ waist to the small of his back, Carlos lets out a soft, muffled moan, and Seb thinks it might be the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard. “I love you,” he murmurs, and Carlos bears down even stronger at the sound of the words.</p><p>“I love you too,” Carlos whispers, his kisses tracking from Seb’s lips, to his jaw, and onto his neck. Seb runs his hands through Carlos’ hair, winding a few strands around one finger and eliciting a gentle sigh from Carlos’ lips, pressed against Seb’s collarbone. Seb tenses as he feels Carlos’ hand brush across his stomach, but relaxes as he feels him move back upwards and bite down on a fold of skin on his neck.</p><p>“Fuck,” he breathes, and Carlos returns his lips to Seb’s with a low chuckle, kissing him as though there’s no time left in the world.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the atmosphere is shattered by the creak of floorboards as someone ascends the stairs. Carlos whips his head around as Seb hastily shoves him off, throwing Carlos’ t-shirt at him and grabbing a hoodie to pull on himself. A sharp rap on the door makes them both jump, and Seb quietly tips the contents of his backpack onto the floor. Textbooks spill across the carpet, and Carlos takes the hint, shoving his glasses back on and grabbing one of the books as Seb kicks his shirt under the bed and opens the door. His mother is stood there, an unimpressed expression plastered across her face.</p><p>“I said door <em>open</em>, Sebastian.”</p><p>“Patrick was being annoying,” Seb protests, lying through his teeth without batting an eyelid.</p><p>“Wasn’t!” yells an indignant voice from the bedroom across the hall.</p><p>“I came to ask if Carlos is staying the night,” she says with a frown. Seb turns to Carlos, who smiles hopefully.</p><p>“That’s a yes.”</p><p>“Will you need dinner?”</p><p>“No, we’ll eat with the guys after the show.”</p><p>“Good to know. Don’t close this door again,” she warns, eyeing them suspiciously as she turns and walks away, back down the stairs. Once she’s gone, he pushes the door until it’s almost closed, then slumps down next to Carlos, puffing out his cheeks as he sighs with relief.</p><p>“That was close,” he says quietly, and Carlos grins.</p><p>“Good thinking with the books,” he replies, discarding the one he was pretending to read.</p><p>“One of my better ideas.” Seb glances at the clock on the wall and gets up to his feet again with a groan. “Time we were getting ready,” he says, tugging off the hoodie and catching his shirt as Carlos tosses it to him. Almost as an afterthought, he does a quick spray of deodorant under each arm before buttoning the shirt and examining himself in the mirror. “Am I good?”</p><p>“The best,” Carlos says immediately, making Seb smile.</p><p>“Sap,” he says good-naturedly. “Come on.”</p><p> </p><p>They wander leisurely to the theatre, and meet the others with plenty of time to spare (“Told you,” Seb mutters to Carlos, when they’re seated nearly half an hour early). They chat excitedly amongst themselves, Seb warning everyone not to spoil the ending for Carlos, until the lights begin to fade, when they fall respectfully silent and glare at the people around them who do not. When the prologue music begins to play and the man behind Ricky doesn’t shut up, he turns around and hisses at him to <em>shut the fuck up</em>, as Nini falls about in silent laughter and Big Red hides his face in his hands. To his credit, though, the man does go quiet, and Ricky and Nini fist bump to commemorate the victory.</p><p>The show is <em>awesome</em>. Seb doesn’t notice a single slip-up in lines, cues or dance moves (although he suspects that Carlos would notice more of the latter than he can). The music is predictably flawless, although Gina has to nudge him more than once to stop him from humming along. As the second act comes to a close, he surreptitiously glances over at Carlos, trying to gauge his reaction as Audrey II consumes both Audrey and Seymour. The horrified expression on his face is <em>priceless</em>, and he seizes Seb’s hand with alarm as the massive plant starts apparently crawling out into the audience. Despite this, he still stands with the others and applauds as the cast gather onstage for the curtain call, and Seb uses this opportunity to release his pent-up laughter at his boyfriend’s theatricality.</p><p>As they crowd out of the theatre, the other seven are waxing lyrical about various scenes from the show, but Seb lowers his voice to Carlos and asks, “You okay?”</p><p>“That’s how it ends?” Carlos exclaims. “Why didn’t you tell me?”</p><p>“I didn’t want to spoil it,” Seb says with a chuckle.</p><p>“I’m traumatised,” Carlos says dramatically. “Forever traumatised.” They walk together to a small late-night diner down the street, and cram into a large booth. Presently a server arrives, smiling in that <em>I’m-clearly-exhausted-but-I-have-to-smile-or-I’ll-get-written-up</em> kind of way. Seb immediately feels sorry for her, and makes a mental note to leave a respectable tip.</p><p>“Uh, can I get a falafel burger with a bowl of fries on the side?”</p><p>“Ooh, that sounds good,” Ashlyn muses from across the table. “Can I get that too?”</p><p>“Falafel?” Carlos says. “Seriously?”</p><p>“Maybe try eating something other than meat every once in a while,” Seb grins.</p><p>“Basic bitch,” Carlos whispers to him, and Seb smacks him playfully on the back of his head. Carlos lets out a soft but high-pitched chuckle, and shoves Seb away as he addresses their server. “I’ll have a chicken sub sandwich, but without lettuce, please?” The young woman nods and writes it down.</p><p>“Scared of plants now, Carlos?” EJ jokes, and Carlos shifts uncomfortably in his seat.</p><p>“Oh my god, you actually are,” Gina says in disbelief.</p><p>“It was creepy!” he protests. “The way it came up through the audience…” He shudders. “Ugh!”</p><p>“I think it’s sweet,” Seb says, squeezing his hand and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He sees Nini staring suspiciously at him, but decides not to ask her about it. Not yet, anyway.</p><p> </p><p>He plans to mention it on the way out, but it transpires that he doesn’t have to, as she pulls him aside on the way out of the diner an hour or so later. “Had a good afternoon, did we?”</p><p>“It was fine,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “Well, it was for me, anyway. I can’t speak for you.” She raises an eyebrow and tugs at his collar, revealing a large blue-purple bruise on the right side of his neck. He pulls away quickly, but slightly too late.</p><p>“Is that a hickey?” she gasps, eyes alight with mischief.</p><p>“No,” he says evasively. “I, uh, fell.”</p><p>“On your neck?” He opens his mouth to retort, but comes up empty. “I knew it,” she says triumphantly. “I thought I saw something when we were ordering.”</p><p>“Look, shut up, will you?” Seb hisses. “It’s not exactly something I want the whole group to know about.” She obligingly stops talking, but the smug look remains on her face as they walk along, side-by-side, their respective boyfriends chatting with the others. “Nini, look,” he says quietly after a moment. “Please don’t make fun of us for this. We barely ever get any time alone, so when we do, it gets… heated. God,” he says, cringing at the implications of his words. “You know what I mean.”</p><p>“Not really.”</p><p>“I mean some of the guys don’t seem to get that Carlos and I are, like, a couple,” he explains. “Not like with you and Ricky. It’s hard sometimes, trying to spend time together when… certain people don’t get that we’re more than friends that happen to kiss.”</p><p>“I get it,” she says, nodding. “And I know you mean Ricky.”</p><p>“Not just him,” he puts in, keen not to get Ricky in trouble.</p><p>“Would you like me to talk to them?” she asks sincerely, but Seb shakes his head.</p><p>“I mean, you can mention it to Ricky, if you like. But we’ll deal with it at some point.”</p><p>“Gotcha,” she says, shooting finger guns in his direction. “Sorry for teasing.”</p><p>“It’s all good,” he smiles, as Carlos rejoins them and slips a hand into Seb’s.</p><p>“What’d I miss?” he asks, and Seb shrugs.</p><p>“Nothing important,” he says. “You ready to go home?” Carlos nods, and they say their goodbyes, hugging around the group and agreeing to have lunch together on Monday.</p><p> </p><p>They go up to Seb’s room almost as soon as they arrive back, absolutely exhausted from their long day. Desperate for sleep, Seb forgoes pyjamas, and simply pulls off his shirt and jeans and climbs straight into his bed; Carlos pulls off his jeans but keeps his t-shirt, before crawling into the sleeping bag on the air mattress which Seb’s mom has put out. Seb lies awake, fighting the urge to drop off, listening for Carlos’ breathing to slow down as he falls asleep.</p><p>“Are you still awake?” he whispers after about fifteen minutes.</p><p>“Yeah,” Carlos murmurs.</p><p>“Still thinking about the plant?” An embarrassed silence follows, and Seb reads between the lines. “Want to come up here?”</p><p>“Yes,” Carlos says in a small voice. Seb’s fond smile is obscured by the darkness as he flicks the duvet up; the mattress creaks as Carlos climbs in next to him, and Seb pulls the covers back over them before wrapping an arm over Carlos’ body, curled up against his chest. He leans forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Sorry we didn’t get our proper date.”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter,” Seb murmurs. “We’ll do something tomorrow. We could go for a picnic, if you like.”</p><p>“That’d be nice,” Carlos says softly. “Where?”</p><p>“<em>Somewhere that’s green…</em>” Seb sings quietly, and Carlos actually turns over to face him. It’s too dark to properly tell, but Seb just knows he’s giving him one of his signature withering looks.</p><p>“<em>Little Shop</em> lyrics? When I’m already going to need therapy?”</p><p>Seb chuckles, and kisses him on the nose before he turns back onto his left side. “Don’t worry,” he says gently, shuffling a little closer so that his chest presses against Carlos’ back protectively. “I’ve got you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed! I had fun writing this, please leave your thoughts in the comments or in an ask on Tumblr (my URL is @tea-for-one-please)!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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